X-ray screening exams are used to detect breast cancer and other diseases. Efforts to improve the sensitivity and specificity of breast x-ray systems have lead to the development of tomosynthesis systems. Breast tomosynthesis is a three-dimensional imaging technology that involves acquiring images of a stationary compressed breast at multiple angles during a short scan. The individual images are reconstructed into a series of thin, high-resolution slices that can be displayed individually or in a dynamic ciné mode. Reconstructed tomosynthesis slices reduce or eliminate the problems caused by tissue overlap and structure noise in single slice two-dimensional mammography imaging. Digital breast tomosynthesis also offers the possibility of reduced breast compression, improved diagnostic and screening accuracy, fewer recalls, and 3D lesion localization. Examples of breast tomosynthesis systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,245,694 and 7,123,684, commonly owned by the Assignee of this application.
In order to facilitate screening and diagnosis with tomosynthesis systems it is generally desirable to obtain high quality images. One cause of degradation of image quality is patient motion during the tomosynthesis scan. Patient motion tends to cause blurring of one or more of the images. The blurring can be severe enough to render the associated images unacceptable for clinical screening or diagnosis. Further complicating the problem, the tomosynthesis images obtained during a scan might not be analyzed until after the patient's breast has been decompressed and the patient has been discharged. As a result, the patient must be called back for a new scan due to severe image blurring, thereby increasing patient frustration and anxiety, and potentially delaying diagnosis of malignancies.